Tareq Salahi and Michaele Salahi arrive for the state dinner at the White House on Tuesday. The Secret Service is checking into its own security procedures after the Virginia couple managed to slip in.

Screen image made from Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows Tareq Salahi, left, Vice President Biden and Michaele Salahi at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday.

State dinner crashers could face criminal charges

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  The Secret Service is looking at possible criminal charges against a Virginia couple who crashed the state dinner at the White House on Tuesday.

Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin says the agency is moving closer to beginning a criminal investigation. He says that's one reason the Secret Service hasn't yet explained what happened when Michaele and Tareq Salahi arrived at the security checkpoint for the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mackin says there's less the Secret Service can say as the probe moves closer to a criminal investigation. He says the agency isn't leaving any options off the table at this point.

In photos posted on Facebook, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, of Virginia, rub shoulders and beam smiles with partygoers and the powerful, including Vice President Biden. The Salahis also are shown posing with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, CBS anchor Katie Couric, and three Marines in dress blue uniforms.

The story of the unwanted dinner guests was first reported byThe Washington Post. The Salahis were not on the list of those invited to the dinner Tuesday in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, Donovan said.

About 320 people attended the party and dinner, which was served in a heated tent on the South Lawn of the White House.

The couple did not pose a threat to the president or other dignitaries, Donovan said. Partygoers, including the uninvited Salahis, had to pass through metal detectors, he said.

At the dinner, the president, vice president and others were still protected by their "usual complement" of Secret Service personnel, Donovan said.

"In that regard, everything worked the way it's supposed to work," he said.

The Salahis are under consideration for a role on Bravo's new reality show, Real Housewives of D.C., her Facebook page shows.

Bravo Media confirmed that Michaele Salahi is being considered for the show. Half Yard Productions, the producer of the program, filmed the couple "preparing for the event" on the day of the dinner, said Johanna Fuentes, a vice president for Bravo Media. She said the Salahis "informed Half Yard that they were invited, the producers had no reason to believe otherwise."

In September, Michaele Salahi, a former Washington Redskins cheerleader, told CBS' Early Show that a trip to the White House was a top priority. "President Obama has made it very accessible for anyone to visit the White House, so that's like a big thing right now," she said.

The Post also has reported that Tareq Salahi had fought for control of the Virginia winery Oasis, which he co-owned with his parents. The winery went bankrupt this year, and the Salahis are now soliciting investors for a scheduled reopening in 2010, according to the winery's website.

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